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Live scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsShane Watson was left clueless by Sunil Narine’s variations•BCCI

Kolkata Knight Riders used the comfort of their home territory to register only their fourth win in the competition, effortlessly beating Rajasthan Royals by eight wickets. Both teams had stuffed their teams with spinners as though it was a fifth day Kanpur pitch, but it was Knight Riders’ spinners who strangled Royals’ batsmen before Yusuf Pathan and Jacques Kallis pushed the team over the line with 16 balls to spare.The victory has kept Knight Riders’ chances of making it to the playoffs alive, but the task ahead remains extremely difficult; five wins in five matches required from here. Royals, on the other hand, maintained their hold on the third spot on the points table.At the mid-innings break, Sanju Samson, the top scorer for Royals, had said that he was confident the 132-run total was defendable on a pitch that was slow and afforded turn to the spinners, but Royals’ slow bowlers were not able to have the same impact as their counterparts from Knight Riders, with Brad Hogg guilty of dishing out plenty of full tosses. Manvinder Bisla and Gautam Gambhir raced away at the start, adding 41 runs in no time, the highlight of their stay not being the runs they scored, but Bisla’s heated exchange with Rahul Dravid. Although both openers were dismissed within 10 balls of each other, Yusuf and Kallis quickly shot down any hopes that might have cropped up for Royals with some lusty hits. Yusuf remained unbeaten on 49, his best score for Knight Riders in his three-year long association with the team.Royals have an untarnished home record this season, but they have been a shadow of themselves playing away. As they chose to bat, a heavy dose of spin was expected. But Gambhir made a surprise move, opening the bowling with medium pacer Sumit Narwal, but handed the ball to Sachithra Senanayake soon after. Senanayake extracted the juice that was available for the spinners and drew a mistake from Ajinkya Rahane. The batsman stretched out to play an inside out lofted drive, missed the ball as it turned sharply through the gap between bat and pad, and saw the keeper whipping the bails off.Dravid tried to unsettle Knight Riders’ plans by sending James Faulkner at No. 3, but the move yielded just one run. Sanju Samson, the impressive 18-year-old, joined Shane Watson and added 41 runs for the third wicket during which neither batsmen appeared in any trouble. The two picked up singles off the spinners for a couple of overs, before Samson unleashed a meaty punch through extra cover that oozed class off the second ball bowled by Jacques Kallis. He got more adventurous in the next over, smashing a short delivery by Iqbal Abdulla over cow corner, deep into the crowd.Royals had patiently moved to 71 for 2 after 10 overs when Gambhir introduced Sunil Narine. The bowler’s repertoire of variations was all thrown at Watson in the first over, and the batsman, struggling to pick the changes, bowed out of the battle after just five balls. Samson continued to dazzle and looked set for another half-century, but fell in the 18th over trying to clear the long-on boundary. He had a reprieve five balls before when Bisla, the wicketkeeper, got under a leading edge around cover point, but dropped the easiest of chances off Narine. Dravid held himself back till the end and came in at No. 8 to play just three balls, but none of the batsmen who came before him had much of an impact.Royals’ total proved too tiny to pose any problems for Knight Riders, who rounded off their final league match at Eden Gardens with a resounding victory.

The IPL 2013 matches in Chennai will not feature any Sri Lankan cricketers or match officials, the league’s governing council said after a meeting on Tuesday. It said the decision was taken keeping in mind security concerns in Chennai.”The security of all involved in the IPL, whether players, spectators or those working in the stadiums, is of paramount importance to the BCCI,” the statement said. “The governing council decided that Sri Lankan players will not participate in the IPL 2013 league matches in Chennai and will advise the nine franchises accordingly.”The decision followed growing political tensions, stemming from the treatment of ethnic Tamils in Sri Lanka and capped by a letter written on Tuesday by the Tamil Nadu state government to the prime minister asking for a ban on Sri Lankan involvement in the Chennai leg of the IPL.The letter, written by the chief minister J Jayalalitha, was unequivocal in its stand. “In such a hostile and tense environment, we apprehend that the participation of Sri Lankan players in the IPL tournament, with many games to be played in Chennai, will aggravate an already surcharged atmosphere and further offend the sentiments of the people.”Earlier this month the DMK, the main opposition party in Tamil Nadu and a key ally of the federal government, pulled out of the ruling coalition at the centre asking for sterner measures to redress alleged atrocities towards Tamils in Sri Lanka.Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) said it was monitoring the developments in India closely and was waiting for a travel advisory from the Sri Lankan government. “If there is a secondary threat to a player in a particular area then we will wait for the government’s advice,” Nishantha Ranatunga, the SLC secretary, told ESPNcricinfo. “We have written to Ministry of Foreign Affairs through our Minister of Sport to get feedback on our players’ safety.”The “ban” will affect Chennai Super Kings, who play all their eight home matches in Chennai; however, their Sri Lankan contingent consists of only two fringe players, Nuwan Kulasekara and Akila Dananjaya. Franchises that will be significantly hit, at least for the lone game they play in Chennai in the league phase, include Mumbai Indians (Lasith Malinga), Delhi Daredevils (Mahela Jayawardene), Sunrisers Hyderabad (Kumar Sangakkara) and Pune Warriors (Angelo Mathews). Chennai also hosts some of the knockout matches, where these players would be crucial if their teams make it that far.”We were first told by the IPL authorities about the problem in Tamil Nadu around a fortnight ago,” a franchise official said. “And after due consultations, almost all the franchises are happy losing one or two of their players for one game rather than the whole tournament.”It is not yet clear whether Super Kings will decide to withdraw their Sri Lankan players for the season but if so, the players will be compensated with their contract fees for the entire season.Sri Lankan players in IPL:
Nuwan Kulasekara and Akila Dananjaya (Chennai Super Kings)
Mahela Jayawardene and Jeevan Mendis (Delhi Daredevils)
Sachithra Senanayake (Kolkata Knight Riders)
Lasith Malinga (Mumbai Indians)
Ajantha Mendis and Angelo Mathews (Pune Warriors)
Kushal Janith Perera (Rajasthan Royals)
Muttiah Muralitharan and Tillakaratne Dilshan (Royal Challengers Bangalore)
Kumar Sangakkara and Thisara Perera (Sunrisers Hyderabad)

ScorecardNew South Wales kept the race to host the Sheffield Shield final well and truly open by rolling to victory over Victoria inside three days at the MCG.After nine games, the Victorians still lead the table on 28 points but their defeat can allow Queensland and South Australia to pass them or Western Australia to draw close in the remaining two games of the penultimate round.The Bushrangers started the day with the chance of setting a testing target with Cameron White and David Hussey at the crease, but both were to depart early at the hands of Steve O’Keefe and Gurinder Sandhu.From there the visitors mopped up the innings effectively, leaving themselves a chase for only 150 to take the six points.At 3 for 60 the pursuit looked a little shaky, but the captain Ben Rohrer, Peter Nevill and Brad Haddin played nervelessly to reel it in.

Michael Clarke has said Australia’s selectors won’t rush to judgment about whether a second spinner is required for the second Test in Hyderabad after their eight-wicket loss to India in Chennai. On a pitch that took turn from day one it was not surprising that India’s spin attack was one of the most dominant forces of the game, and the three of them – R Ashwin, Harbhajan Singh and Ravindra Jadeja – took all 20 Australian wickets.But Australia’s frontline spinner Nathan Lyon picked up only four victims for the match, while eight came from the fast bowlers – six to James Pattinson and one each to Peter Siddle and Moises Henriques. Lyon was at times threatening, but also leaked far too many easy runs. He was milked for singles by all of India’s middle-order batsmen and was especially vulnerable against MS Dhoni, who scored 104 off the 85 balls he faced from Lyon.The left-arm spinner Xavier Doherty is the other specialist spinner in the squad and Clarke was impressed with the control he displayed in the tour match against India A, when he took 3 for 108 from 24 overs. However, Clarke would not be drawn on whether Australia had made a mistake by choosing a pace-heavy attack for the Test and he said better bowling from those who were picked might have helped Australia to a different outcome.”Australian spin took three wickets in the first innings, fast bowling took a lot more,” Clarke said. “That doesn’t mean to say that playing three fast bowlers and a medium-pace allrounder, we got that right. We need to assess, we need to look at conditions again and work out what we think is the best XI [in Hyderabad]. It’s not just about selection, it’s about how you perform, I don’t think we bowled well enough in our first innings and we certainly didn’t bat well enough in our second innings.”You can talk about selection as much as you like but the 11 players you select have got to perform better than we did in this Test. Look at the amount of wickets fast bowling got compared to spin for the Australian team. We are not India. We are a different team, we have different fast bowlers to the Indian fast bowlers and we have different spinners to the Indian spinners.”Traditionally, Australia’s spinners have not enjoyed Test cricket in India as much as the conditions suggest they should, partially because of the different style of bowling required and in part because India’s batsmen are generally strong against spin. Richie Benaud and Ashley Mallett had fine records in India, although their tours were during the 1950s and ’60s, when the Indian team was not the dominant force at home that it has become.In more recent times, Australia’s spinners in India have at best been serviceable in India. Shane Warne, who after the Test met with Clarke, coach Mickey Arthur, Lyon and Doherty for a 20-minute chat on the ground, managed only 34 wickets at 43.11 in his nine Tests in the country. Lyon finished his first Test in India with match figures of 4 for 244 and Clarke said he hoped Lyon would learn from the experience and deliver greater consistency throughout the rest of the trip.”He’s got to stay positive,” Clarke said. “He bowled plenty of overs so he has seen the conditions a lot more. He got a couple of really big wickets for us. ‘Lyno’, like all of our attack, I thought he bowled really well in patches. We’ve just got to keep working on that consistency. There are plenty of positives out that for Lyno. It’s nice to see him get a wicket in the second dig as well.”However, while Pattinson was outstanding in collecting six wickets for the match – the first Australian fast bowler to do that in a Test in India since Jason Gillespie in Nagpur in 2004 – he and Lyon could have used some more wicket-taking support from Siddle and Mitchell Starc. Virtually no deliveries moved off the seam and reverse swing played less of a role than Australia had hoped, but Clarke wanted more patience from his stock bowlers.”They tried everything,” Clarke said. “I think our execution wasn’t as disciplined as we need, especially when the wicket’s good for batting like that. You need to be really patient and be able to build pressure. We did that at stages but not as consistently as we needed to.”Whatever Australia decide for the Hyderabad Test, which starts on Saturday, they will have at least three pace options after the strong debut from Henriques with the bat made it impossible for him to be dropped. Although Henriques claimed just one wicket, he was the only batsman besides Clarke who looked at ease in the conditions and scored 68 and 81 not out, the best aggregate on debut by an Australian since Clarke in 2004.”If we don’t have a third fast bowler Moises can certainly do that role,” Clarke said. “I think it’s very exciting the way he has started. He’s been a very talented player for a long time back in Australia but it’s nice to see that potential come to the forefront in his first Test match. I think he looked very comfortable with both bat and ball. That’s exciting for Australian cricket going forward and very exciting for Moises.”

England Under-19s 231 and 31 for 0 need 287 more runs to beat South Africa Under-19s 228 and 320 for 8 dec (Bedingham 131, Pillay 63, Orros 50*, Stone 6-48)
ScorecardDavid Bedingham struck 16 fours and a six in his hundred•Getty Images

David Bedingham revived South Africa’s second innings in Paarl with a well-constructed 131 to give them a chance of levelling the series against England after Oli Stone had threatened to run through the home side.His innings, alongside valuable support from Shaylin Pillay (63) and Vassilli Orros (50 not out), enabled South Africa to declare before the end of the third day and set England 318 for victory. At the close they had survived intact to reach 31 without loss and set up a fascinating final day.Bedingham’s innings was all the more commendable for the situation it came from. Stone, England’s captain, had continued his outstanding match with two early wickets to leave South Africa 25 for 4. At one stage Stone had figures of 4 for 6 from 10 overs, but when he left the attack life became a little easier.Pillay and Bedingham began the recovery with a stand 94 before Stone’s return to the action brought another scalp when Pillay was caught behind. Bedingham was joined by Clyde Fortuin and the pair added a further 82 for the sixth wicket.Stone continued his one-man show by claiming Fortuin to make it six out of six to give him an outside chance of all 10 wickets. Shortly afterwards Bedingham reached his hundred by driving Stone through the covers and another valuable stand followed until someone else, this time Josh Shaw, finally removed Bedingham for 131.South Africa’s lower order, led by Orros, increased the scoring rate as they eyed a declaration and he added 56 in eight overs with Jan Frylinck to set up a quick dart at the England openers.

ScorecardKarachi Blues’ medium pace bowlers, led by Akbar-ur-Rehman, imposed a crushing 10-wicket win on Sialkot on the third day in Karachi. Akbar finished with eight wickets in the match and played a crucial role in dismissing Sialkot for low scores of 124 and 249, only 19 more than Blues’ first-innings score when put together.Sialkot started the third day at 18 for 3, following-on and still trailing by 212, and managed to take a minute lead of 19, led by Ali Khan’s run-a-ball 82. Akbar struck with four wickets, supported by two wickets each from Tabish Khan and Azam Hussain.Earlier, Blues chose to bat and were in trouble at 192 for 6 before their lower-order batsmen rescued them, scoring 162 for the last four wickets to take them to a respectable 354. Sialkot batsmen were not allowed to settle down as Akbar and his team-mates struck regularly to skittle them for 124, making them follow-on. Sialkot provided some resistance in the second innings but barely managed to make Blues bat again. Blues achieved their target of 20 with ease and took nine points to move to the top of the table in Group I.
ScorecardIn a low-scoring match also played in Karachi, Karachi Whites wrapped up Rawalpindi for under 200 for the second time in the match and achieved victory with three wickets to spare. Rawalpindi were leading by 89 and had five wickets in hand in the second innings on the third morning before losing their remaining wickets for 78 runs, setting the hosts a target of 168. Since neither of the teams had crossed 200 in three innings, 168 was not an easy target.Whites got off to a shaky start, being 1 for 1 and then 17 for 2. Opener Khalid Latif anchored the innings on one end and scored a half-century to ensure his team was steady and did not collapse during the chase.Rawalpindi were asked to field by Whites after the toss after which Atif Maqbool’s five-wicket haul reduced the visitors to 153. Whites could not achieve a huge total either, scoring 185, but a 32-run lead proved to be crucial at the end which got them nine points and the top position in Group II.

Match facts

December 30, 2012
Start time 0900 (0330 GMT)Shoaib Malik was among two players belatedly retained from the T20 squad•BCCI

Big Picture

India’s win in the second T20 in Ahmedabad is good for the context of the tour; the 1-1 scoreline sets up the three-match one-day series nicely. The T20 was closely fought, but some improved death bowling helped India save face after two consecutive T20 losses. The two teams haven’t seen much of each other in the last two years, with India winning all three one-dayers in that period – their most recent meeting was in Mirpur this March for the Asia Cup.This short one-day series promises to be just as competitive, provided the weather doesn’t stand in the way. It has been raining in Chennai since Friday and more rain is forecast for Sunday. A 9am start means there’s less time for the outfield to dry up. Bizarrely, this is the first time India will be playing a one-dayer at home in 2012, having played games in Australia, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. If the wet weather persists, there’s a chance this series may only properly start in 2013, which is just a few days away.Pakistan have fond memories of Chepauk, where Saeed Anwar scored his iconic 194 in a one-dayer in 1997 and where they staged one of Test cricket’s most remarkable comebacks. Pakistan can do with the happy vibes, because despite the Asia Cup win they haven’t had the happiest year in one-day internationals, winning six and losing ten. The series defeats to Sri Lanka and Australia, following the Asia Cup, would have hurt.

Form guide (Completed games, most recent first)

India WWWLW
Pakistan LWLLL

Players to watch

Mohammad Hafeez‘s demotion from the opening position seemed to work for him in the T20s. In both games, he compiled half-centuries, playing a crucial role in Pakistan’s successful chase in the first T20 and nearly repeating it in the second. It was the quality of his shots that stood out. In Ahmedabad, his first scoring shot was an audacious scoop that nearly carried over the fine-leg rope. His knock featured late cuts, the drive over extra cover, consecutive slogged sixes over deep midwicket and a booming straight drive to bring up his fifty. In his last three ODIs, Hafeez has scores of 78, 23 and 4 – all as an opener – and with Ahmed Shehzad not in the one-day squad it remains to be seen if he will open with Nasir Jamshed.Ashok Dinda shrugged off a horror final over in the T20 against England in Mumbai with 3 for 36 in Ahmedabad against Pakistan. Death bowling has been an issue for India of late, and Dinda’s late spell set a good example. A slower ball, bowled from the back of the hand, knocked down Umar Akmal’s middle stump, and his final two overs went for just six runs each. His wickets of Hafeez and Kamran Akmal, both caught in the deep, ensured the game was India’s.

Team news

Pakistan have retained the allrounder Shoaib Malik and left-arm seamer Mohammad Irfan for the one-dayers, in recognition of their good performances in the T20s. There was talk of retaining Shahid Afridi as well, but he hadn’t done enough to merit selection, thereby putting his one-day future in doubt. Younis Khan and Umar Gul return to the squad after the axe for the series against Australia in August.Pakistan (likely) 1 Nasir Jamshed, 2 Mohammad Hafeez, 3 Azhar Ali, 4 Misbah-ul-Haq (capt.), 5 Younis Khan, 6 Umar Akmal, 7 Shoaib Malik, 8 Kamran Akmal (wk), 9 Umar Gul, 10 Saeed Ajmal, 11 Junaid Khan/Mohammad IrfanVirender Sehwag returns to the ODI squad after being dropped for the T20s. Yuvraj Singh will play his first one-dayer since returning from illness while Bhuvneshwar Kumar could be in line for an ODI debut after an impressive performance in Bangalore.India (likely) 1 Gautam Gambhir, 2 Virender Sehwag, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Yuvraj Singh, 5 Suresh Raina, 6 Rohit Sharma/Ravindra Jadeja, 7 MS Dhoni (capt. & wk), 8 R Ashwin, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Ishant Sharma, 11 Ashok Dinda

Stats and Trivia

• Virat Kohli, with 1026 runs in 2012, needs to score another 159 to beat Kumar Sangakkara’s tally of 1184 runs. Kohli is currently placed third, behind Sangakkara and Tillakaratne Dilshan (1119). Kohli has only one match to try to move up the list.
• India have won nine ODIs and lost six in 2012.
• India last played a day ODI at home two years ago, in Vadodara against New Zealand.

Quotes

“Even before the series we were banking on our pacers to put pressure on the Indian batsmen and they succeeded in doing this in the first T20. I hope they continue in the same spirit and rhythm for the one-day series as well.”
“If you ask me, I am not very happy with the rules. I feel ODIs have seen lot a of changes over the years. People talk a lot about Test cricket and T20 Internationals, but I feel all the experiments are forced on the ODI format.”

With the series against England level at 1-1, and following the poor performance in Mumbai, India need Sachin Tendulkar now more than ever, former captain Rahul Dravid has said, and he has backed him to perform in the rest of the series.Tendulkar has not scored a half-century in his last ten Test innings and has managed just 29 runs in the three innings he’s played against England so far in which he’s been dismissed each time to spin. Dravid, however, said Tendulkar looked better than he did in the previous home series against New Zealand, and “who better than Sachin” to deliver in the next two games.”I thought he was a little scratchy and looked a little under-prepared against New Zealand,” Dravid said of Tendulkar, who prepared for the England series with a century for Mumbai in their opening game of the Ranji Trophy against Railways at the Wankhede Stadium. “Here, I know it seems strange to say after he’s had three failures, but he’s actually looking quite good.”He’s played a couple of straight drives, he’s played a couple of shots that when I was playing with him, you knew he was playing well if he was playing those shots.”Tendulkar, Dravid said, had also been a little unlucky in this series. “He’ll be disappointed with the shot he played to get out in Ahmedabad on a relatively flatter wicket, and then to see other people score runs. Here, he was a bit unlucky: the first ball that really spun on the first morning was the one that got him. Until then there weren’t too many balls spinning. And then he played for the spin in the second innings and the ball straightened on a track on which every ball was spinning.”India need him now more than ever. At 1-1 in a tight series, it’s going to be very important for senior players to stand up and who better than Sachin to do that.”India went in with three specialist spinners for the Mumbai Test, on a surface that turned from the outset, but Dravid said, given that the conditions in Kolkata would be different, India would be better off with a combination of two spinners and two seamers.Sachin Tendulkar has played ten Test innings without a half-century•BCCI

“It’s a different kind of soil, it does not break up,” he said. “It’s black soil, red soil [like in Mumbai] tends to deteriorate very quickly and if you leave it dry, it can turn and bounce a lot more than the black soil does.”I think that’s a blessing in disguise from India’s point of view. They might have to work harder for the wins but it’ll also give their batsmen a chance to be able to put up big scores, and to be able to show they are good players of spin.”Dravid admitted Dhoni had problems using his spin resources in Mumbai, especially with the availability of two other part-time options. “He’s going to have to re-look at his combination, simply because it’s going to be difficult to manage three spinners and especially having Yuvraj Singh and Virender Sehwag in the side who can also bowl spin.”The combination they had in Ahmedabad was the best one, where they had two seamers and two spinners. Hopefully we’ll see a normal Kolkata wicket. India have a great record in Kolkata, we’ve had a lot of success in Kolkata, because it is a typical subcontinental wicket. As it starts off, you can play your shots, there is something in it for the fast bowlers but it does spin.”Umesh Yadav will miss the Kolkata Test due to injury, and Ashok Dinda has been included in the squad having been named as cover last week. Should Dinda be picked in the XI, Harbhajan Singh, who bowled the least number of overs among India’s spinners in Mumbai, may be left out.

Dhaka Division got off to a winning start in the National Cricket League by beating Rajshahi Division by 127 runs at the Shere Bangla Stadium in Mirpur. It was their first victory in the first-class competition after the divisional side was split and the Dhaka Metropolis team was formed last season.Dhaka were aided by their opponents’ poor luck, after Rajshahi had their captain Mushfiqur Rahim and leading bowler Saqlain Sajib collide on the first day. Sajib was disoriented due to the impact and didn’t take part in the rest of the game, while Mushfiqur was only available for Rajshahi’s second innings. The defending champions were in shambles as they chased 261 to win, and were bowled out for 133. Mahmudullah picked up four wickets, while Shahadat Hossain took two.Dhaka’s fightback began in the second innings, in which they trailed by 62 runs after they were bowled out for 116 in the first innings. Dhaka were rescued by a 100-run fifth wicket partnership between Nadif Chowdhury and Mosharraf Hossain and by a 97-run seventh-wicket stand between Abdul Majid and Nurul Hasan. Mosharraf, Majid and Nurul scored fifties to push the total past the 300-mark, which was enough against a team that had only nine batsmen.

Thilak Naidu, the Karnataka wicketkeeper, has announced his retirement, three years after he played his final first-class match. Naidu, 34, was a mainstay of the Karnataka side for a decade starting 1998-99 and was seen to be close to India selection around 2002-03.Naidu played 93 first-class matches, taking 220 catches and 18 stumpings. He was also an aggressive lower-order batsman, making 4386 run at 34.80, including eight first-class centuries. In his debut season, he helped Karnataka win the Ranji trophy, the last time the state has won the tournament. He lost his place in the side to CM Gautam three years ago.Naidu was felicitated at a ceremony at the Chinnaswamy Stadium which was attended by several of the greats of Karnataka cricket, including Rahul Dravid, Anil Kumble and Roger Binny. He said he had no regrets over his career. “I played with pride and passion,” he said. “I enjoyed 16 years of my cricketing career, met a lot of wonderful people. As long as I played, I gave my best as a batsman and a wicketkeeper.”Dravid led the tributes to Naidu during the function. “He can hold his head high for what he has done for Karnataka cricket,” Dravid said. “Coming from an illustrious line of Karnataka keepers, he held the mantle ably. He was always egging on the bowlers, doing what he could to irritate the opposition, which made it entertaining for me at first slip.”Kumble, the president of the Karnataka State Cricket Association, also praised Naidu’s contributions. “Thirty-four is no age to retire, it is too young,” Kumble said. “Thilak was an exceptional player with a flamboyant style with the bat and with the gloves. He had one step in the Indian team, especially in the 2002-03 Challenger Trophy. He was very close but unfortunately he couldn’t make it.Kumble hoped Naidu would work to develop Karnataka cricket in the future. “You have a lot to contribute to Karnataka cricket, the association welcomes you with open arms.” Naidu said he was looking to work as a selector in the future.